I also attended a session on Google LitTrips, but unfortunately had laptop issues during most of that session. Thankfully, the presenter has posted her presentation and handouts online already.
Hoping to get ideas for handout for school librarian workshop at this session!
Watched the “A Vision of K-12 Students Today” video to start
Web 1.0: static; get it and go away
Web 2.0: interactive, dynamic, content based on user input (kids see this as the Internet — have no idea what Web 2.0 term means; no idea Internet used to be at 1.0 stage)
Gotta Love Commoncraft videos (Showed the Delicious one)
Looking at Delicious. Presenter’s Delicious.
She uses her delicious account with her students. Game sites as an example — they’re allowed to go to those sites under that tag in her delicious account.
Wordle: Word clouds. Shared “38 Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom” by Tom Barrett
Blogs: lots of different uses.
Glogster — never heard of this one. Hmmm..
Animoto — can get free education upgrade. create account and then apply for the education upgrade.
PicLits — gallery of pictures there. can then drag and drop words from selection or click “freestyle” to type. Displays those words on the pic of your choice.
Prezi: rethink the slideshow
Bubble.us? (I think it was mentioned at the very end?)
Zamzar: This one is definitely worth checking out. Online file conversion. Check out the whole list. Convert up to 100MB file for free!!! The list does include converting Microsoft Works files to several other file formats, including Microsoft Word. Haven’t given it a try yet, but looks like a great option.
1.) I’m involved with the school librarians workshop at NEKLS.
2.) Natural interest (daughter of school librarian).
3.) Biggest reason: I’ve been discovering more and more connections between librarians and educators, especially when it comes to technology. In my previous post about the keynote, really, you could replace the educator terms with librarians and educators. Will expand on this more through the day.
Presenter: Brian Carlson, from Chetopa USD 505.
Going over what open source is. Nothing new here (although didn’t hear “free kittens/free beer” analogy, for once). Only at the presentation to hear what OS tools schools are using.
Good point: typically a lack of high-quality support in commercial products: when you’re talking to someone overseas who reads a script and only stays on script.
with Open Source: can typically get quick help thanks to forums, user communities.
Cross-platform: usually means available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux operating systems. A lot of Open Source programs are cross-platform.
Software mentioned:
Thunderbird: email client, cross-platform
Sunbird: Calendar client, cross-platform
Lightning: extension to Thunderbird that integrates Sunbird into it
SeaMonkey: all-in-one browser app; much like original Netscape. Includes Web-browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editing.
Camino: Mac-only web browser
Scribus- page layout program (desktop publishing): interactive PDF forms. Cross-platform.
Inkscape: similar to Illustrator and CorelDraw; cross-platform.
GNU Cash: Personal and small-business financial accounting software; cross-platform.
Someone made a good point during the presentation: people/students have to understand basic principles before learning automated procedure/software. Therefore, does the version of software that is taught in the classroom really matter?
Sheryl McCoy is presenter. Starting at https://mymindtoyourmind.wikispaces.com/.
I’m at the Technology and the Classroom conference at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS today. Will try to blog each session I attend, as it looks the campus wireless is great!
Antwon Lincoln is the keynote speaker and is known as the “Evangelist of Education Technology” and is an instructional technology coordinator in Southern California. He’s the author of “Confessions of a Technology Leader”.
“Can’t Hide Our Pride” is the conference theme. The conference leaders wanted everyone to come away inspired by technology. Keynote will be tailored around that.
“ED study slams software efficacy” article. Buzz kill. Article says technology doesn’t work. Changed the role Lincoln serves at his school in CA. Became tech evangelist as a result.
Key Problems/Challenges ID’d:
Talking about properly using airplane as kid. Can’t just open it up and use it. Must read instructions and understand its purpose. No reset button, like on Atari. No reset button in education on students, as much as teachers might want to push reset button.
Who’s the cause of the problems? The superintendent, the principal, the tech leader, the teacher, the software company, the students? Who takes the blame for the failures of technology in the classroom? We all must!
Chinese Bamboo tree example. Takes 3 years to get out ground, then 90 feet in 90 days. Where was most of the energy expended? The planting or the growing?
Where did we/they go “wrong?”
Let’s talk about our role:
Back to article key points & rearrange them:
LEADERSHIP is key to success.
Control
C=Capable Teachers: tech doesn’t work without them. Computers and other equipment alone won’t help.
T=Targeted Objectives. Must know purpose of the equipment. Not just “kids love it.”
R=Real Research. Just because tech is in the classroom doesn’t mean that it’s going to work. The company’s promised outcome doesn’t always result. Must be able to measure own objectives and purpose for the tech or software. If equipment or software removed from classroom, what would happen to learning level? That’s real research, answering that question.
L=Leadership. Students defy parents to follow teacher instructions. Must know you’re the leader.
It’s all about leadership. Don’t just rely on new teachers for the tech leadership. They have energy, but not the connections that current teachers already have. The veteran teachers have the foundational knowledge already.
Students have become of the leader equation, too.
After leaving here, what is going to change, other than taking home bag of goodies? It’s a process that begins with what you will do different tomorrow? Leadership is the catalyst for student success!
What role will technology play in their education career? Ends with video “A Vision of a 21 Century Student”
Which tool will you need to plant the seed? to nurture the seed (make sure foundation is nourished, so software grows)? to develop the seed? to support that seed (new teachers, veteran teachers)? Because this seed can be the catalyst for student success! Must be used purposefully.
Lots to think about. Going to breakout sessions next. Hope to throw in extra post about why a librarian is at a classroom technology conference 
I’m posting from the barn. No, there are no farm animals, no piles of hay, and the dominant smell in the air (thank goodness) is fresh-baked cranberry scones. The Barn is actually a lovely inn near Valley Falls, KS and we’re gathered here for our annual NEKLS School Librarian’s Workshop. Technology is not the focus of this day and in fact, I don’t need to fire up the projector and laptop until after lunch. The buzz in the air as people visit before the day begins is, as it almost always is when librarians gather, all about books. I am humbled by the massive number of titles on the book lists this group’s members seem to have plowed through this summer. One of the things I enjoy most about my job is the opportunity I have to be in the presence of people so dedicated to literacy and reading. One of the things I strive to do in my job is to seek ways to make technology something that is not entirely separate from that.
Michael Cart was the morning speaker, presenting on “Literacy Leadership.” I found out during a chat over coffee that his city is famous for its architecture (I.M. Pei designed the public library there!). He’s a writer and an expert on young adult literature. Several things that he said during his presentation resonated as places where technology can be a valuable mechanism for reaching goals.
It is an unfortunate fact that in many communities, the school librarians and the public librarians operate in isolation from one another. In her role as School Liaison at Johnson County Library, Erin Downey Howerton seeks to connect the two groups. Her energetic book talk was tech-free, but I was sending Amazon links to my middle school teacher sister repeatedly. If we were able to take the pulse of the room throughout the day, then I’m guessing we would have discovered the fastest, most excited heart beats at this point in the agenda. Book lovers are we.
The afternoon’s later sessions did focus on technology. Christie Brandau (arguably one of the most tech-friendly state librarians around) and Patti Butcher from the State Library of Kansas introduced several statewide technology initiatives of interest to school librarians. Cheers were heard from the crowd when Christie announced that the Kansas Library Card is going away. Soon, IP recognition will make the card unnecessary. Other topics included:
The day ended with two breakout sessions. Diana Weaver spoke on ILL and Terry Hime and I talked about wikis in the school environment. Terry’s successful book discussion wiki is an excellent example of the potential connection between literacy/reading and technology.
“A recent post on the blog Alt Ref has gotten me thinking about information literacy in the 2.0 world. In his post, Brian stats that info lit is “very Un-Library 2.0 (the ‘proper way vs. your way)”. Why is this and how can it be changed?”
A good read, and worth thinking about.
Here’s a list of the top 10 reasons you should ask a librarian to be your technology partner.
An interesting read, for sure.
Education World ® Technology Center: Doug Johnson: The Librarian: Your Technology Partner
We’ve had quite a bit of discussion on an article from our earlier days, this discussion of e-messenger.net. It’s turned into quite a fight between the IM loving Millenials and their teachers at school.
From David Warlick’s Two Cents Worth (found in Technology and Learning, October 2005):
[Students] talk, text message, and Google with their mobile phones, IM on their laptops, access the World Wide Web, [play] Net-based video games like Halo [and] MMORPG (did I get that right?) games like EverQuest and Second Life. These gadgets represent intellectual appendages to our children. They are the hands and feet that carry children to new experiences, and cutting these links is like cutting an appendage — and that makes no constructive sense to these children and their world view.”
A lot of libraries and schools block the usage of IM for students and patrons, and for varying reasons. We’ve heard a lot from the kids, and their responses directly point to the truth of the above statement. We’ve heard only a little from the teachers. Any school technology folks out there that would like to present the “opposing viewpoint?” Please submit your responses to me, lrea@nekls.org, I plan to post (with your permission of course) the best rationale I receive for blocking IM at school.
